Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
January 27, 1985
The Need For the Law
Matthew 5:19-20, KJV
The Law. One of the vivid memories I have of childhood goes back to a vacation our family was on. The station wagon was packed with sleeping bags and kids and we were making our way through some nameless city. Eventually we came to a particularly complicated intersection which was cluttered with traffic lights and route signs. My father had pulled up too far to see his signal, so he waited for the one ahead to change, then he went across.
I will never forget my dad's reaction when he saw the police car lights flashing in the rear view mirror. He slammed his fist on the steering wheel, cursed out loud and pulled over. My dad was polite enough when the officer gave him the ticket but we were under the threat of physical abuse if we opened our mouths.
I quickly learned something about the law - you never give it a thought until you break it and you're caught. In last week's message, before a vast audience [-20 degrees F., big snowstorm] I explained how Jesus supported the Old Testament Law. He said he came not to dismantle the law but to fulfill it. Jesus even said that not one sliver of the law, not one crossing of a "t" or dotting of an "i", would pass away until the end of the world.
I also explained last week that this passage doesn't mean we have to follow all of the Old Testament regulations like food laws and religious festivals. All of the Law is valid because all of it points to Jesus but some of the Law has already been fulfilled by him. My message this week is going to focus on the parts of the Law that have not been fulfilled and therefore still apply to us.
Down through the ages, Christians have fallen into two extremes regarding the Law. The first extreme is to glorify it into a system. This is called Legalism, and the Pharisees specialized in it. Legalism establishes certain laws that have to be obeyed if a person is going to be saved. In Christian circles the laws might be that you can't smoke, drink, play cards, wear pants (if you're a woman), or have hair over your ears (if you are a man). A legalist likes to have an outward way of telling where people stand.
On a more moderate level, legalism can be based on a short form of the Ten Commandments. In this form of legalism, if someone doesn't murder, lie or commit adultery they can be pretty sure they'll go to heaven. This sounds reasonable but it doesn't cut the mustard either. The last of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not covet," and very few people keep that one.
Whether it is a rigid, comprehensive framework, or a moderate and easy one, legalism is a man-made system that fails to please God. You can use it to arrive at a certain level of righteousness but no more.
The other extreme in regard to the Law is to ignore it. These people emphasize that salvation is a free gift from God, which is true. Where they go wrong is when they argue that the Law is no longer needed. Some of them say that Jesus fulfilled all of the Law and not just the food regulations or rules about sacrifices. Some Charismatics fall into this category. They put so much emphasis on the Holy Spirit and how it directly communicates with them that they have no need for the Law.
Baptists can also be lax toward the Law, probably because of our emphasis on eternal security. This is the doctrine that once you are saved, you are always saved. You can't lose it. Since you are saved on the basis of God's gift, and not our own obedience, it stands to reason that you cannot lose salvation because of disobedience.
I believe the Bible teaches once saved, always saved but I also think this doctrine is open to a lot of perverse logic. The perversity comes when you use it to justify loose living. First you realize that nobody's perfect. Everybody sins, even Christians. Since this is all true, who really cares how I live? I ask God to forgive me and I'm all set. Sometimes this type of reasoning debates how far a genuine Christian can fall. For example: Can a real Christian commit adultery? What about murder? Theoretically a Christian can break any of these laws and still be saved. But it's very dangerous to take comfort in this fact.
Instead of asking how far a Christian can fall, we should wonder how far we can rise. This is what Jesus is getting at in verse 20: "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were looked up to as religious people. In reality it was a self-righteousness but it had the appearance of being godly. They calculated that the Old Testament Law contained 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions. To exceed their righteousness doesn't mean Christians succeed in keeping 230 commandments while the best Pharisees only scored 215. Not at all.
Christian righteousness is greater than Pharisaical righteousness because it is deeper. God's commands require more than just superficial obedience. They require obedience from the heart. It was heart-righteousness that the prophets predicted would be one of the signs of the age of the Messiah. Turn to Jeremiah 31:33. In that passage God promises: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts."
The Law, the heart and Christian righteousness all belong together. You don't obey the Law so you'll be saved. Instead, you become saved, then try to obey the law God has placed in your heart and conscience. This should be the same law that is revealed in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.
There is several reasons why the Law is still needed by people who are saved by grace. One of them is that the Law provides guidelines for behavior. Whenever you're in a tight situation and you want to know what God's will would be, check and see if the Bible speaks about it. Other people might not condemn it, it might feel good, maybe you won't even feel guilty afterwards but if the Bible condemns it, don't do it.
This last week I was listening to a radio program that was discussing moral attitudes among Christians. One example the commentator focused on was John Ritter, the star in the TV comedy "3's Company." John Ritter is a professed born again Christian but when he was asked what he thought about living together before marriage, he said he thought it was OK. Ritter said that nobody condemns it anymore and he himself lived with his wife several years before he married her. I don't question John Ritter's salvation but his logic is a little fuzzy. The Bible clearly talks about marriage and sexual relations. We don't have to put our finger to the wind to see if living together is acceptable. If the Bible condemns an action, all the rationalizing in the world won't justify doing it.
The biblical law does more than provide negative guidelines. It also gives positive ones and Christians should pay close attention to them. Later on in the Sermon on the Mount we will come to commands like love your neighbor as yourself, be reconciled to your brother, go the second mile, and so on. These positive commands aren't easily fulfilled - you don't wake up in the morning and announce that you now have perfect love for everyone. These commands provide goals for our behavior and attitudes so we can become more like Jesus himself.
If obedience to the Law doesn't save you it at least shows that you are sincere in your faith. In verse 19 Jesus says that those who obey even the least important commandments will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven. Apparently people who don't keep them can still get in but they will be at the bottom in terms of prestige.
The world is looking for sincerity. When the world looks at Christians it usually sees people who aren't much different than anybody else. We can argue that God isn't finished with us yet and hope they'll understand, but why should they? Nonbelievers want to see people who live up to what they preach.
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Typed on February 2, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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